


Fixing Something

by talula



Category: Supernatural, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Kissing, J2, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 06:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1257013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talula/pseuds/talula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School AU where Jensen fixes cars, keeps his head down and Jared notices him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fixing Something

**Author's Note:**

> I had started this ages ago, and actually Dean's mention of fixing cars reminded me of it.
> 
> Allusions to bullying, an abusive/neglectful household.
> 
> Working on chapter 2

Jensen sat on one of the picnic tables in the park, near enough that he could see his little brother in the kids play area, but far enough that the other mothers didn't give him dirty looks. He was working on carving 'No sleep till Brooklyn' with his pocket knife, and had his tight black tshirt on, favorite pair of jeans with a few holes and his chain-belt. Mothers usually looked at him badly, except his own mother, who barely looked at him at all. He knew he didn't belong to the group of middle-aged moms chattering about their kid's latest project in school or trouble potty training. 

After all, he was only seventeen and supposed he didn't have any kids, if he didn't count raising his little brother, Josh, for the past seven years. Sometimes he wanted to tell these moms they were making everything too complicated, that he had potty trained Josh by saying "Don't be stupid, just go." Which is also how he taught him to ride his bike. But he hung back, and kept his parenting advice to himself. He knew the moms wouldn't take him seriously and he didn't want to be the topic of their discussions and sideways glances anymore than he was. He already felt like they looked at him like a kidnapper when he told Josh it was time to go and they left together. 

"God dammit!" 

Jensen turned towards the outburst and saw a guy slamming his car door, then proceeding to kick a tire. He was parked across two lines and it took Jensen a minute to realize the tire that seemed to offend the guy was flat. He had been too busy taking in his tall frame, floppy hair and the continuous string of not- really offensive curse words coming out of his mouth. 

"Stupid good for nothing piece of trash freakin car. "

Jensen snickered. He couldn't help it. He heard worse before breakfast most days. 

But the guy must have heard, because his head shot up in Jensen's direction. 

Jensen wasn't scared of many people, had taken more beatings from his father to cower in front of a punch, especially in front of a new kid in the neighborhood. But he did know when to be smart, and divert a fight. 

"Sorry man, just don't want the mom patrol getting on to you. You better tone down the 'f'' word."

The guy had looked over where Jensen indicated and sure enough, a group of women in mom jeans and ill fitting shirts were giving him squinty eyes over their shoulders. 

"But I didn't even say-" he deflated "you're making fun of me."

Jensen shrugged, but smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "Maybe a little, but really, you don't want to be getting on their bad side. The PTA is like the CIA in this town."

The guy sighed. "I just knew I was gonna love it here." He stared at the car for a moment, shifted back and forth on his feet, then looked back at Jensen, who had gone back to digging in the picnic table with his knife. "Hey, you know how to change a tire?" 

Jensen flipped his knife shut and started getting up without even meeting his eye, as if he knew he was going to ask. He whistled loudly and he saw the guy's eye crinkle in confusion for a moment until Josh came running up to him.

"Hey, I'm gonna be helping this guy change the tire. I can still see you, so no walking on top of the monkey bars and no talking to anyone we don't know and no leaving with anyone, including-"

"Mom and Dad. Yeah, I know. What am I, 5? Can I go?"

Jensen pursed his lips. "Yes." Josh ran off immediately. "I'm serious about those monkey bars!"

He turned and walked the few steps to the car, "Pop the trunk?" 

"I'm Jared by the way. Thanks for your help, man, really." 

Jensen just nodded in recognition. He was fine joking around with this guy, and helping him out, but he knew it would end there. School started tomorrow and Jensen knew exactly the crowd he was going to fit in with, and it wasn't him. His nice car, his clothes that looked new, the basketball stuff in his trunk. By week's end, Jared would have gotten on board with everyone else, to ignore the weird kid who wore black and never talked. Like the rest of them did since 9th grade. 

"Jensen." He said as he started jacking up the car. He couldn't help looking up, and Jared was squinting down at him, all dimples and hair in his eyes. He looked away, back down. He'd been tricked by nice guys, big smiles, smoldering eyes that had turned hateful after quick hand jobs in the locker room or one time, directly after Jensen got up from his knees. They all turned mean, called him a fag and pushed him away. He was used to it, but he wasn't going to fall for it again. They could test out their gay tendencies on someone else. "So, where'd you come from?" 

"Dallas" Jared said, and crouched down next to Jensen. "So how do you know how to do all this stuff?" He was watching Jensen's hands pump the jack, eyes going a little wide, and Jensen swore he saw for a moment that Jared licked his lips. 

"My family owns the garage on 8th street. Been doing it since I could walk." Jensen was spinning the tool now, getting the bolts off. He handed them off to Jared as he got them, feeling little sparks each time their fingers touched, which he was absolutely ignoring. He pulled the tire off, put the new one on and heard Jared let out a surprised laugh.

"That was so fast, man, I wish I could do that!"

Jensen smiled, even though he turned his head and tried to hide it. Usually people didn't get impressed with garage work, usually they were annoyed he couldn't fix it faster, and annoyed that they expected payment. And his father's reactions to his work was usually telling him when he expected him back for another shift. His father would probably be pissed if he knew what he was doing right now, changing this guy's tire on the street, for free, when he could have had it towed to the garage and charged him. 

"Really, it's nothing," Jensen said, taking back the bolts while trying very hard not to touch Jared, or even look at him. He could feel his eyes on him, regardless, excitement, wonder and energy. He wondered if this guy ever sat anywhere still and quietly. 

"Are you crazy? I could never do anything like that! I bet you can fix stuff in the engine too, right?" Jensen looked up at him and squinted, but nodded quickly.

"Oh man, you'll have to teach me some of this one day!" And then Jared seemed to physically stumble, stamp on his own enthusiasm, and step away all at once. "I mean, if you wanted to." He ran his hand through his hair "I mean, I could pay for, for like lessons or something, I'm sorry, no that's stupid, I didn't mean that, like maybe hanging out or something." He stood up, an unsure furrow to his brow, so openly nervous that Jensen couldn't stand it, wanted so badly to make it go away that he almost does something stupid, like agree.

Instead he said, "Look man, it's no big deal. You don't owe me anything for the change, I have to get going anyway," And he walked away, whistling for Josh without looking back. 

"Wait!" Jared said suddenly, "Do you go to Preston High?"

Jensen laughed, but didn't turn around. "Yeah, it's the only high school in town."

"Ok, then I'll talk to you there!"

Jared sounded so enthusiastic, but Jensen could only think: No, you probably won't. 

Two days later, after dodging Jared at every turn, Jensen felt heartbreaking smug when he saw Jared sitting at lunch with the popular sports-related package. Jensen grinned, shook his head and went to sit outside to eat his own lunch. He sat alone at the table furthest away and was being perfectly content eating an apple with his headphones in when he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

He jumped visibly, he wasn't so comfortable with being touched, or used to the touch not having potential to end violently. Then he felt ridiculously stupid for jumping like a teenage girl, then his face colored even more with embarrassment when he saw who it was and oh, god, he was smiling again. How could a smile be so hard to look away from?

"Hey, I was beginning to wonder if you actually went here." Jared sat down across from him. Jensen automatically looked around for if anyone else was seeing this, wondering why Jared would mess up his popularity for him. If all he wanted was a blow job under the bleachers, he needed to be a bit more secretive. "But then I asked around and it seems you existed, I just hadn't seen you," Jared smiled again, "Until now." 

Jensen's stomach turned over and curled into a knot. "So then you've learned that you need to stay away from the weird kid who wears black and worships Satan in his attic?" Jensen started picking up his things to run away from this stupid conversation. 

"Yeah, I heard that one," Jared said, "it's not the one I believed even remotely."

Jensen froze in his spot. "What do you mean?"

"It may amaze you, but I do have to capacity to think for myself, and the person I met, briefly, before my babbling drove him away, helped out a stranger in need, was good at what he did and apparently takes care of his little brother, so in my book that makes him pretty nice, a skilled hard worker and a caring person. So really, none of which really fit the bill of devil worship. Not that I know very many devil worshippers. Though, I guess you never know... and I'm babbling again." Jared turned to him and gave him a new smile, one that was kind of shy, embarrassed, unsure. "Don't run away again, ok?"

And Jensen, all of a sudden, was out of his depth, and had no idea what to say when someone was trying to what? Be his friend, said only, "Ok, I won't." And smiled back, watched as Jared's smile turned into 100% happy with a side of blinding. 

Which is also, of course, when the bell rang. Jared's face fell. "Oh crap, Chemistry. Hey, maybe ill catch you after school, ok?" 

And then Jared was gone, and Jensen sat for another 5 minutes, trying to figure out what just happened. 

*********************************

When he saw Jared skulking around outside the garage he went into full on panic mode in the middle of fixing a radiator. He blinked to make sure Jared was actually there and then couldn't resist breaking out in an answering smile when Jared saw him and smiled at him first. Then all of a sudden his smile vanished as he saw his father walking up to Jared. No, no, no. Please, don't let his father ruin this for him. 

But then his father and Jared started talking and then shaking hands and his father nodding and then walking over, oh god.

"Jensen, I met your friend Jared here. He told me about the arrangement you guys made where you were going to teach him about cars and you about basketball." Jensen looked behind his father briefly to see Jared giving him a look with wide eyes and a 'follow along' head tilt. " Show him what you're doing with this radiator then you can be done and go with Jared." Without waiting for an answer, his father walked away. 

They stood looking at one another for a moment. "I'm sorry for lying to your dad. I kind of panicked, but he seemed really excited about the basketball stuff, so I thought it might be a chance for you to get off early. Oh god, I'm not costing you some money by that, am I? I could pay you back, or-"

"Jared, it's fine." Jensen said, realizing it was the first time he's said Jared's name out loud, and though he was sure a million people have called him by his name in his life, the small smile it put on Jared's fce and the answering jump in his heart made him feel like it was personal, theirs. 

"So, this is the radiator coil, it's the main mechanism that isn't working in this car." For the next forty five minutes Jensen talked more to Jared than he probably had in years, to anyone. The words of how everything worked together, how that could break down and the beauty of how it could be fixed all tumbling out easily.

Jared appeared interested in what he was saying, appeared to be following, asked appropriate questions. There were also more than once that Jensen turned towards him to explain something and found him looking at Jensen with such interest, and not always at the car. There was a few times it seemed he was purposely bumping their hips, or letting their arms cross and slide together momentarily. Maybe it was all in Jensen's head, but he couldn't stop wanting it to happen again and again. 

When he closed the hood and said "And it's fixed." Jared smiled at him so big that Jensen smiled back before he could stop himself. 

"Look, I need to go back to my house for a minute before we-"

"Jensen, if you don't want to play basketball with me, it's cool. I just really wanted to watch you fix something. " Jared leaned his head back and color rose in his face. "Oh man, why do I say the stupidest shit around you?"

Jensen stopped himself from making a sound too close to a giggle. "Hey man, don't worry about it. Can I just meet you at the basketball court in 20 minutes?"

"I could come with you if-"

Jensen might have been too quick to cut him off. "No, really, it's ok, I just need enough time to make sure Josh has dinner."

Jared's eyes narrowed and shook his head a fraction, "Shouldn't your par-"

Jensen started walking away. If he didn't hear the rest of the question, he wouldn't have to answer it. Because there was no answer, and he'd stopped asking the question a long time ago. "See you in 20!"

After the fastest Mac and cheese preparation in the universe, Jensen rounded the corner of the park and saw Jared sitting on the bench, head hanging and bouncing the ball between his feet.

"Hey," Jensen said, sitting down next to him. He felt more comfortable around Jared after working on the car with him, some of his shyness gone after talking so much, and not having Jared run away. 

The tension on Jared's face was a stark contrast to his newfound ease. "Jensen, I'm so sorry I was a jerk back there. I can't believe I invited myself to your house and then insulted your family all in less than a minute. I swear I have a problem, like as in needing an intervention for my mouth." 

Jensen smiled, "I like your mouth." And then turned bright red. "Oh god," he hung his head, "Apparently you're not the only one with the problem."

Jared laughed then, and it was the best sound Jensen had ever heard, bright, sharp, unbridled, like there might be wonderful things in the world. It shook something in Jensen loose, and maybe it was hope, and Jensen was pretty sure he was looking at Jared with a awestruck look on his face, like he had just found a million dollar bill on the street and he couldn't understand why no one else had snatched it up yet. But Jared didn't seem to notice, just slapped him on the back and said, "Come on, let me teach you something about basketball." 

It turned out Jensen was ok at basketball. He especially enjoyed the lesson on blocking, where he got to press his body back against Jared, keeping him from being open to an imaginary teammate. 

After an hour of playing, which may have involved more horsing around and laughing than actual lesson, Jensen was so worked up, he thought he would easily agree to a blow job or hand jobs, even if it was a one time thing. He watched as Jared drank deep from his water bottle. God, he just really wanted to touch Jared all over, push him up against the- "What?"

Jared had been saying something. "I said, Are you hungry? Some of the guys were telling me about a good place to eat, maybe we could check it out?"

Jensen's stomach dropped. All of a sudden remembering his place in the world. He couldn't walk into Freds Diner with Jared. It would be the end of Jared's popularity and Jensen would get teased mercilessly. 

"My treat if that's a problem?" 

How could Jared be so clueless? "No, just, I'm all sweaty. Let's just get a pizza from Lou's to go and eat it down by the river. I'll show you my favorite spot." 

"Sounds great." 

Jensen's favorite spot was a small grassy area surrounded by large rocks only about three feet up from the river's edge. The sun was pretty well down by the time they hobbled over the rocks balancing the pizza and sodas. The sky was at the time when one side was light blue and then faded a shade darker across the sky until it was deep dark blue. 

There was a small breeze and they ate mostly in comfortable silence, as if they, and the universe along with them, was settling down, taking a deep breath and enjoying the quiet. 

Jensen dropped half of the last piece back into the box and flopped backwards gracelessly, putting his hands under his head to cushion his fall. He closed his eyes, squirmed down a little and sighed. He felt more relaxed, full and content than he had in a long while. He felt like he could fall asleep right there, knowing that Jared was next to him.

And it was just then that he realized how close Jared was to him, lying down next to him, actually, sideways, up on one elbow. He lay still and drank in the closeness for a moment, just in case moving made Jared go away. Instead, when he opened his eyes and turned towards him, Jared was closer than he even imagined, face close enough to just lean into and his eyes focused on Jensen's eyes, maybe his lips. Jared's body laid out next to him, just a move from touching him flush from head to toe.

"Jensen." Jared whispered, a question, a statement, an intention. 

A shiver of anticipation ran through Jensen, and then against his will, he was flooded with doubt. Isn't this how it always happened, he got interested, he got hopeful, they got off and he got pushed away. He couldn't let that happen with Jared. For some reason, he knew it would hurt more, that this meant more.

"Jared, I have to ask you something." He hadn't noticed, but his breathing had gotten heavier, his voice softer.

Jared seemed to be having the same breathing issue, but when he spoke his voice was deep, heavy, seemed to be barely restrained. "What is it? Jensen? Anything, just ask me."

He almost forgot the question, forgot his name, forgot what he was so afraid of, but he fought to stay focused. "When you said you asked around school about me and you heard some things." A deep breath, a small sway towards Jared, then pulling himself back. "Was one about how I was gay, and good for a.. a quickie, then easy to discard?"

"Yeah, I heard that." Jared said it easily, in the same low voice. Jensen tensed, but Jared reach over and grasp his hand, pulling him a little closer. "Jensen, I heard that one, and all that told me was that, yes, you are gay, and that no one else has been smart enough to keep you yet. Which made me equally hate them for being assholes, but also thankful you were single. Can I please kiss you now? Please?"

A million things floated through Jensen's mind but above all was the biggest thought, "Yes."


End file.
